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"I do not understand how they can be thinking about cutting services. It is not as if they are empty buses."

Parents say many school buses are already "rammed" and children often do not get a seat

'Catastrophic'

Events organiser, Mrs Reilly, of Smarts Hill, Penshurst, said her two teenage children take the threatened 237 service that runs between Chiddingstone and Tunbridge Wells War Memorial.

Without it she said she would be forced to leave work and join the packed roads into Tunbridge Wells for the daily drop off and pick-up or let them walk along dark unlit roads.

She added: "For parents who are working this is a nighmare.

"Even if they are able to get a different bus to the village that is still going to place them in danger - there are dark lanes without pavements and even in summer there is still the danger element because they are not empty roads."

Teaching assistant Justine Kirkby, 46, said her Year 9 son takes the 234 from Hever to the Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys.

To lose it she said would be "catastrophic."

Parents are worried by bus cut proposals which could mean some are forced to give up work

Mrs Kirkby, who works in Sundridge but lives in Uckfield Lane, Hever, said she needed to leave the house by 8am and would not have time to detour into Tunbridge Wells.

"We pay a lot for this service and it is bad enough already," she said.

"If this was to go there is no way Luke would be able to get to school.

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"I am a working mother - but I would have no option but to give up my job and that is not something I want to do. It is crazy - and a real worry."

Her neighbour Andrea McGlew, also called the proposals a "crazy" option.

The working mum, 45, said changes to the bus service would have a "huge impact on family life."

She said the family had chosen to send their daughter to Bennett Memorial School in Tunbridge Wells because their was a direct bus service to the school. But on hearing 234 and was under threat she said it would strip her daughter of independence.

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Freelance copy editor, Sue Harper, 57, of Uckfield Lane, Hever, said she already drove her Year 8 son two miles down the road to catch the 237 bus service into Tunbridge Wells.

She said it was after the 234 routinely took more than an hour-an-a-half to make the seven mile journey.

But on hearing both services could be under threat Ms Harper said parents needed to contact Kent County Council to voice their opposition.

"My only option would be the 233 but that is really busy - so busy that some of the children getting on at Bough Beech have been left standing on the side of the road because the bus is too full for them to get on, she added.